Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety (MARS) Program

The Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety (MARS) Program is delivering initiatives to improve the health, safety, and wellbeing of workers in the mining industry.
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About the MARS Program

The Western Australian Government announced the establishment of the Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety (MARS) Program in December 2021 to address serious mental health, workplace culture and safety issues in the Western Australian mining industry.

The MARS program is an inter-agency collaboration involving the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS), the Mental Health Commission, the Equal Opportunity Commission and the Department of Communities.

The MARS program consists of three focus areas:

  1. Creating mentally healthy workplaces – by managing psychosocial hazards and promoting positive practices at work that support mental health and wellbeing.
  2. Building a culture of safety and respect – with safe, gender-equitable, respectful and inclusive workplaces.
  3. Preparing for workplace safety in future mining – training the future mining workforce on work health and safety, including psychosocial hazards and controls, and by addressing emerging risks and fostering innovation and research in mining health and safety.

The MARS program will engage and work with the mining industry to help develop positive cultural change across the three focus areas with initiatives that will:

  • support affected people; support the whole workforce.
  • strengthen organisational capability; provide training; and
  • increase awareness of issues and research.

The MARS Program complements other work the State Government is undertaking to eliminate sexual violence by implementing the Respect@Work report recommendations and developing the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Strategy. 

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